Friday, February 1, 2013

Little Mister or Little Miss?

People say that finding out the gender of your baby is one the last great surprise left in life. Now, usually the people saying this are using it as an argument that you should skip the gender reveal at the ultrasound, and wait until the baby is born to find out if it’s a boy or a girl. But I firmly disagree. If you're pregnant, I don’t mind if you want to wait to find out (ok...I actually do kind of mind....I’m nosey, and impatient....But I at least understand if you want to wait) but I’m not doing it. Science has made it possible for me to get an extra 20 weeks of planning in...and I’m taking it. Plus, I think the whole surprise argument is a little weak. I mean...I’m going to be the same amount of surprised at 20 weeks that I would be at 40, just less distracted. And as for the idea that waiting to find out makes the birth experience that much more magical? Not buying it. I was overjoyed to meet Piper, even though we had known she was a she for months already. And I don’t think any parent responds to the delivery announcement of “It’s a.....!!!!” with a “Big deal...We already knew that." Finding out the gender of the baby is magical- no matter when, and no matter how. So, while I totally respect the old-fashioned way, I also totally admit that patience just isn't my scene. And I doubt I'm the only one, right?

So let's make the most of our little mystery...and play a Baby Bowden #2 guessing game:

Sure, there's only two options so we could just flip a coin, but isn't it more fun to put stock in random suspicions of folklore wisdom? Here's where baby B 2.0 lines up on most popular wives' tales:

craving salty-see: grilled cheese, salad, mac and cheese. (but don’t kid yourselves, if pressed, I can eat an entire pan of brownies. And by “pressed” I mean, “If I’m in the presence of brownies”.)

morning sickness: rough- nuff said.

feeling clumsy-ok, not particularly. But you can’t really describe yourself as graceful. I’m a bit more scatterbrained and forgetful, so I factored that in here. Clumsy of the mind, I guess.

skin is oily-Gross. Let’s not discuss.

prefer sleeping on my right- but that’s mostly because I’m usually trying to hide my phone or book light from Dustin so he can actually sleep.

headaches are rare-so thankful that I haven’t had one since I’ve been pregnant. This might be the only clear (non) symptom I have (that still doesn’t mean anything!)

hands are dry-It must be a boy, right?! It couldn’t have anything to do with the fact it’s the dead of winter?

hair is thin- This might be the only other actual useful clue. With Piper, my hair didn’t fall out at all the entire time I was pregnant. Not a strand. This time? I shed like normal. Which is to say- a lot. You’d think that would mean the baby’s gender is different this time, but apparently thin hair points to a girl...So who knows. I think the most likely cause is me forgetting to take my vitamins too often.

Chinese chart says girl- Some people swear by this. (even some non Chinese people!) But I’m not convinced. If you google it, you can find about a hundred different versions of the chart, and most conflict a little. I’m going with this one, because it’s on a website called “moms who think”. Can’t be wrong, right?! (For those of you who want to know the nitty gritty- I was 28 and it was October. With Piper I was 27 in February, so this chart guess her correctly.)

So that settles right? Clear as mud. I honestly don't have a gut feeling one way or another, but even if I did, my track record is pretty much 0%. (I was sure....sure...Piper was a boy. So sure. And so wrong.)

And for those of you who need to "see the baby" to make your guess...here is my 19 week belly pic from this past weekend:

So what do you think? Should we dig out all our little pink onesies? Or start stocking up on the blue?

Leave your guess in the comments!!!
...and to satisfy you "it's so much better to wait!!" people out there? We've got the perfect compromise- we'll leave you in suspense until next week!

(For the record, Dustin and I didn't find out the gender right way this time. Something about an ultrasound exam room at 7:30AM wasn't feeling super magical and romantic, so we chose to have the technician write it down for us so we could open it later as a couple. So if you're hating the suspense....I feel your pain. It's like waiting Christmas morning- hard, but worth it!!)

I KNOW it is a boy just like I KNEW Piper was a girl. But then again I always KNOW which way to go when I am lost and it is always the exact opposite so maybe Piper was a lucky guess? NAH...I truly think she is a he bear this time!He Bear's G'mi

I’m Courtney- a loud-talking, big-dreaming kind of a girl with a creative streak I can't turn off, a wholly imperfect love for Jesus, and an overwhelming passion for authenticity. I'm superpumped you're here.